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X of Y

X of Y

X of Y

A lot or a little?

The parents' guide to what's in this game.

Positive Messages

Pretty standard notions of good and evil apply in both narrative and combat. The fantastical enemies whom players fight are completely dehumanized, depicted only as malevolent, violent creatures. Players clearly aren't meant to feel pity or remorse for killing them. But, although they don't communicate, they're obviously sentient and motivated, making their perpetual slaughter at the player's hands a bit troubling.

Positive Role Models & Representations

The player's character -- who can be customized to be male or female with any skin color -- is cast as a valiant hero striving to save humanity from an alien menace. But the only means by which he or she is able to solve problems is lethal violence.

Ease of Play

Players experienced with similar games should feel pretty comfortable with the controls, which are standard for console-based first-person shooters. There are no difficulty levels. The amount of challenge players experience will depend on their abilities, the statistics of the weapons they use, and the skill of any players alongside whom they may be fighting.

Violence

Players engage in nearly constant weapons-based combat from a first-person perspective. Futuristic pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, and grenades are used to dispatch enemies that take the form of robots and aliens, as well as humans in online competitive play. Players also can club enemies to death with their weapons and use a small array of special powers, such as an energy-releasing ground-pound that injures or kills all enemies in a wide radius. Wounded foes cry out in pain, and defeated creatures lay prone on the ground or instantly disintegrate. Some alien creatures occasionally bleed small amounts of non-red blood.

Sex

Language

Consumerism

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that Destiny is a sci-fi-themed shooter in which players use futuristic weapons against a variety of robots, aliens, and -- in competitive play -- human avatars. It's not nearly as graphic or gritty as M-rated military shooters such as Call of Duty or Battlefield, and it doesn't have any language or sexuality concerns. But the adrenaline-filled, weapons-based combat is nearly constant and often very intense, due largely to the first-person perspective and ability to melee-attack enemies when they get close. The relatively straightforward story of good (humans) against evil (aliens) is obviously designed to make the combat as guilt-free as possible, but the creatures whom players fight are clearly intelligent, and their apparent one-dimensionality is slightly troubling as a result. Parents also should know that this game supports non-moderated voice chat that can expose players to inappropriate comments.

What's it about?

Set centuries in the future, DESTINY imagines a solar system in which humanity's survival is hanging by a thread. A moon-size, benevolent entity known as the Traveler arrived hundreds of years ago and helped usher in a golden age for mankind. People reached beyond Earth, terraforming and settling other planets in the solar system. Then an evil known as the Darkness showed up, forcing the Traveler into a silent hibernation and ransacking human civilization. Only one city remains on Earth, protected by a group of warriors known as Guardians. Players take on the role of one of these fighters, selecting a class and special ability, then head out to explore the wastelands of Earth, the moon, and other planets in an effort to understand and defeat their species' nemesis.

Is it any good?

Destiny, made by the same studio that originated the iconic Halo games, is beautiful, challenging, and fun. The landscapes, both earthly and alien, are at times breathtaking and may cause players to stop fighting simply to appreciate their splendor. But it's the action that will keep players coming back -- especially strike missions, which see teams of three players going up against impossibly powerful bosses and seemingly never-ending waves of lesser enemies. RPG-like leveling and looting let players customize and grow their warriors as they like. An integrated competitive mode called the Crucible lets players engage in traditional multiplayer modes such as deathmatch while evolving their heroes. Add in finely tuned controls and a terrific and seemingly never-ending selection of powerful, upgradeable weapons, and you have the sort of shooter that fans of sci-fi FPS games ought to gobble up.

And yet, it's not without problems -- chief of which is repetition. The four gorgeously rendered worlds that players get to explore are big enough to fit a few missions without much backtracking, but the game is designed so players continue to visit these locations almost endlessly, eventually making them feel small and over-populated. Plus, players looking for a compelling narrative may come away disappointed, since even the story missions are virtually all action with very little meaningful exposition. The seeds of a fascinating new sci-fi mythology exist, but they never quite sprout. Still, fans of shooters and online games are bound to have a fair bit of fun, even if it doesn't last quite as long as they might have expected, given the immense hype that preceded Destiny's release.

Talk to your kids about ...

Families can talk about the impact of violence in media in games such as Destiny. Where do you draw the line in terms of violent games for your family? What factors into your decision? Do you see a difference between players killing human enemies and more fantastical foes, such as aliens, zombies, or monsters?

Discuss online safety. What would you do if you encountered a bully online? Someone making derogatory or discriminatory comments? Someone asking for your personal information?

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